Need Upgrade Advice

I've had an SVR-3000 with lifetime for many years (my first Tivo), but it has just died. That is, the hard drive appears dead; I cannot talk to it using various utilities, and it does not make the power-up sounds I am used to hearing. (My original 80 hour drive died about 5 years ago, at which time I upgraded to a 1 TB using InstantCake.) Instead of buying a new drive, I am considering buying a new Tivo Premier XL (150 hour unit), but have a few questions:

1. Can I qualify for MSD, in order to get lifetime on the new unit for $399, if the old SVR-3000 can no longer "talk" to Tivo HQ anymore? Does it need to check in every now and then?

2. The Tivo website offers me an "Upgrade Program" price of $249 on the XL, but it seems their regular price on the XL is the same. Am I missing something?

3. The best price I see for an XL is on Amazon for around $207 (also saving me tax). Is there a better deal?

4. If I decide to cancel my cable and go OTA at some point, I can still use the XL to record OTA shows? How will it know which OTA channels I receive -- do I tell it manually?

5. Any other considerations I am missing?

(As background, which isn't really relevant: my family has been living on Comcast analog-only cable all this time. My wife and kids have been asking for an upgrade to Comcast digital service for quite some time, so that we can get more channels, but I have resisted, because I am cheap, and irrationally hate the idea of getting a cable box. (So idea of using a cable box along with a Tivo IR blaster is too inelegant for me to bear.) So now I am willing to join the rest of society and fork over more cash to Comcast in exchange for more channels, in digital, while getting a new Tivo that can use a cable card and therefore stay cable box-free. And now in the Bay Area Comcast is allowing digital Tivos to do fun new things. An alternative to Comcast (which I hate) would be to cut the cord and go with OTA & Roku, or OTA & Premier, or all three. The kids want PBS Kids (which they already have), Cartoon Network, Sprout, and Nickelodeon, but might be happy if money to be spent on Comcast instead got spent purchasing specific shows they want via Apple TV or Amazon. The wife wants ESPN, which is only available via cable. Spending $399 for lifetime plus $200+ for the unit just because of a dead SVR-3000 hard drive seems severe, but on the other hand this is a long-overdue upgrade and would maintain family harmony. And alternatively buying a Roku box and an antenna and perhaps an Apple TV (if we want our content to be purchased through iTunes) and paying for Hulu Plus and maybe even Netflix too starts to add up. So I think the XL plus digital Comcast is the way to go. So paying $600+ for the XL rather than just $100 for another 1 TB drive for the SVR-3000 seems like the way to go.)

Thanks so much for all your help! This forum has always been a source of great information over the years!

4. If I decide to cancel my cable and go OTA at some point, I can still use the XL to record OTA shows? How will it know which OTA channels I receive -- do I tell it manually?

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Premiere can receive OTA with and without cable. There are separate inputs for antenna and cable and are not interchangeable. When you make a change, such as remove cable, add antenna, just re-run guided setup. Premiere would need a Multi-stream cable card to access digital cable channels. It also can record 2 channels at once, such as 2 cable, 2 antenna, or from 1 of each.

You can add antenna along with the cable, and if the cable should go out, you would still have something on the antenna side. Channels would be in the numerical order and it would say which source it is on, such as 2 cable, 2.1 ant, 2.2 ant, 3 cable, 3.1 ant, etc.

(As background, which isn't really relevant: my family has been living on Comcast analog-only cable all this time. My wife and kids have been asking for an upgrade to Comcast digital service for quite some time, so that we can get more channels, but I have resisted, because I am cheap, and irrationally hate the idea of getting a cable box. (So idea of using a cable box along with a Tivo IR blaster is too inelegant for me to bear.) So now I am willing to join the rest of society and fork over more cash to Comcast in exchange for more channels, in digital, while getting a new Tivo that can use a cable card and therefore stay cable box-free. And now in the Bay Area Comcast is allowing digital Tivos to do fun new things. An alternative to Comcast (which I hate) would be to cut the cord and go with OTA & Roku, or OTA & Premier, or all three. The kids want PBS Kids (which they already have), Cartoon Network, Sprout, and Nickelodeon, but might be happy if money to be spent on Comcast instead got spent purchasing specific shows they want via Apple TV or Amazon. The wife wants ESPN, which is only available via cable. Spending $399 for lifetime plus $200+ for the unit just because of a dead SVR-3000 hard drive seems severe, but on the other hand this is a long-overdue upgrade and would maintain family harmony. And alternatively buying a Roku box and an antenna and perhaps an Apple TV (if we want our content to be purchased through iTunes) and paying for Hulu Plus and maybe even Netflix too starts to add up. So I think the XL plus digital Comcast is the way to go. So paying $600+ for the XL rather than just $100 for another 1 TB drive for the SVR-3000 seems like the way to go.)

Thanks so much for all your help! This forum has always been a source of great information over the years!

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With the Premiere and the latest software update, there is also Comcast On-Demand available only in the San Francisco Bay and Boston areas. It would be accessed via the On-Demand Menu and not channel 3 or what ever channel that is usually viewed via cable box.

I'm pretty sure these are the old 320GB Premieres and not the new 500GB Premieres, and they certainly aren't the 1TB Premiere XLs, or the new Elite/XL4s or whatever they're calling the latest one now.

But anyway, if you get that deal on the LT'ed Premiere, once it's lifetimed, it's lifetimed, even if that 3000 never calls home again.

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Wow! I was not aware of this upgrade page. It provides a Premier (the older 45 HD hour unit) for $99 and the lifetime is only $300 instead of $399. My hesitation here is that I was planning to get the XL specifically for the 150 HD hours. Although, I will probably be recording a lot of stuff at SD quality. I called and was told the 45 HD hours equals about 400 SD hours, which is encouraging. (Right now my 1 TB SVR-3000 provides like 1200 hours and I have gotten kinda used to that!)

Regarding that MSD, I was told that after 30 days with the new unit, the old unit can be trashed or transferred no problem. It needs to have phoned home within the past 6 months, which it has, since it died only recently.

Wow! I was not aware of this upgrade page. It provides a Premier (the older 45 HD hour unit) for $99 and the lifetime is only $300 instead of $399. My hesitation here is that I was planning to get the XL specifically for the 150 HD hours. Although, I will probably be recording a lot of stuff at SD quality. I called and was told the 45 HD hours equals about 400 SD hours, which is encouraging. (Right now my 1 TB SVR-3000 provides like 1200 hours and I have gotten kinda used to that!)

I'm pretty sure these are the old 320GB Premieres and not the new 500GB Premieres, and they certainly aren't the 1TB Premiere XLs, or the new Elite/XL4s or whatever they're calling the latest one now.

But anyway, if you get that deal on the LT'ed Premiere, once it's lifetimed, it's lifetimed, even if that 3000 never calls home again.

Click to expand...

Regarding this awesome link, which basically provides an older $99 premiere unit with MSD lifetime ($399) minus an additional $99 off ($300): is that any different than loading a $99 premier unit into my cart, and then entering the PLSR code, which also takes $100 off the cost of lifetime (thus equaling $299)? And could I take the deal provided by the link ($300 lifetime), add it to my cart, and then add the PLSR code for an additional $100 off (thus $200 lifetime)?

Regarding this awesome link, which basically provides an older $99 premiere unit with MSD lifetime ($399) minus an additional $99 off ($300): is that any different than loading a $99 premier unit into my cart, and then entering the PLSR code, which also takes $100 off the cost of lifetime (thus equaling $299)? And could I take the deal provided by the link ($300 lifetime), add it to my cart, and then add the PLSR code for an additional $100 off (thus $200 lifetime)?